Dudley also disputes the “myth” that the North Sea oil industry was over, insisting BP would be pumping oil there until 2050; the North Sea surely is a mature basin, "but it’s going to be around for a long time and be a vibrant place and part of the global oil and gas industry."

BP recently bought interests in two North Sea exploration prospects, Jock Scott and Craster, and plans to begin drilling on a potential carboniferous natural gas play that, if successful, “could open up a new phase of development in the region.”

BP is shipping almost 3M barrels of U.S. crude to customers across Asia, pioneering a lengthy and complex operation likely to become more popular after OPEC last week announced deep production cuts.

Using its global shipping and trading network, BP was able to grapple with U.S. port limitations and the need to transfer oil between ships off Malaysia to split up cargoes, according to sources in Thomson Reuters Eikon.

BP has the highest exposure in the countries that have said they will cut oil production, Rystad Energy says, with the likely participation of Russia, where BP holds a 20% stake in Rosneft (OTC:RNFTF), puts it ahead of rivals Total (NYSE:TOT), Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), Eni (NYSE:E) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX).

“If Russia should deliver on their production cut, we believe that the fields operated by Rosneft will be affected,” Rystad's Espen Erlingsen says. "Also in Iraq, the government will need to reduce production from the large Basra fields. Here the BP-operated Rumaila is a likely candidate for cuts.”

BP has ~1.6M bbl/day of production in the affected countries, with Russia accounting for roughly half the total, according to the Rystad analysis; Total has ~700K bbl/day of output in the countries, Shell has 586K bbl/day, followed by XOM with 563K, Eni with 497K, and CVX 194K.

In four other areas surrounding Trion in the Perdido Fold Belt, areas 1 and 4 went to China's Cnooc (NYSE:CEO), area 2 to a consortium of Total (NYSE:TOT) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), and area 3 to a group comprising Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Pemex and Inpex.

In the Salina basin to the south, areas 1 and 3 went to a consortium of Statoil (NYSE:STO), BP and Total (TOT), area 4 to Sierra Offshore and a Mexican entity, and Area 5 to a group led by Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR) and Sierra Offshore; areas 2 and 6 received no bids.

CEO, STO and Pemex each submitted individual bids that did not win an award, while consortia that unsuccessfully submitted bids were Eni (NYSE:E) and Lukoil (OTC:LUKOF, OTCPK:LUKOY), and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Atlantic Rim Mexico.

BHP Billiton (BHP+1.2%) wins the bidding to partner with Mexican state oil company Pemex to develop the potentially lucrative Trion deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, outbidding BP (BP+0.6%), the only other company that participated, with a $624M offer.

The competition marks the first time Pemex will join forces with a private company to drill since Mexico’s 2013 opening of the oil industry; BHP will own 60% of the project to Pemex's 40%.

The Trion field was discovered in 2012 and is thought to contain ~485M barrels of commercial reserves; Pemex CEO José Antonio González Anaya has said the field should produce ~120K bbl/day by 2025.

Bids for 10 other deepwater blocks up for auction are due to be opened later today.

The oil giant BP says it has reduced the cost of phase 2 development to $9B, compared with an initial $20B estimate in 2013.

"It could be an indication that they are optimistic that prices will recover, but even if not, they feel confident enough to sanction a project with prices ~$50/bbl in the deepwater," says Sanford Bernstein analyst Mark Tabrett. "Around two years ago, people didn't think that was an economic level to sanction anything in deep water, so [the decision] seems like a bullish indicator for the market."

BP expects Mad Dog to begin producing oil in late 2021 and have the capacity to pump up to 140K bbl/day from up to 14 wells.

Terreson's top picks are Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), BP, ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX), but he also sees upside for smaller independent E&P companies and oilfield services firms.

"While we expected OPEC to cut production, today's outcome exceeded our expectations," Terreson says, "so this is a positive outcome for the oil markets, and we also think for the outlook for energy stocks in 2017 too," adding that he is "unrepentantly bullish."

Crude oil continues to slide - WTI now -3.8% at $45.27/bbl, and Brent -3.8% at $46.40/bbl - dragging oil and gas equities (XLE-2.1%) down with it.

Iran's oil minister says he is not prepared to reduce supply, and Saudi Arabia says it would not participate in a production deal without Iran and Iraq.

Reuters reports that Iran has written to OPEC saying Saudi Arabia needs to cut oil output to 9.5M bbl/day; Saudi has said it was prepared to reduce its production only by 500K bbl/day from current levels of 10.5M.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) is teaming up with Mexico's Pemex and Japan’s Inpex to bid for the right to explore for oil and natural gas in Mexico's first-ever deepwater auction, set for Dec. 5.

The auction marks the first time Mexico's state-owned operator will partner with private companies to develop crude in the Gulf of Mexico, and is one of seven groups and eight individual bidders to qualify for participation.

Total (NYSE:TOT) is joining forces with BP and Statoil (NYSE:STO) in one group, and with ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) in another, while Eni (NYSE:E) and Lukoil (OTCPK:LUKOY, OTC:LUKOF) also joined up, and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) formed another group; other companies involved include BHP, CEO, MUR.

The Mexican regulator has not specified which bids are for the Trion field joint venture with Pemex or for the other areas.

BP (BP+2.1%) has created a new executive committee to explore business in Iran which will exclude its American CEO Bob Dudley to avoid potential violations of U.S. sanctions still in place, Reuters reports.

The new committee is headed by CFO and British national Brian Gilvary, who will coordinate BP's operations in Iran and any discussions with the country's national oil company, according to the report.

BP has yet to sign any deals with Iran, and a lack of clarity over Iran's terms for new production contracts, difficulties facing the banking system due to continued U.S. sanctions, and companies' severe budget constraints due to lower oil prices have kept most oil majors on the sidelines.